The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
[XL Recordings]

The Raconteurs should be awarded Ten out of Ten for marketing this record. Announcing details of their second album just a week before release has earnt the collective plenty of column inches, while holding off any pre-release leaks. This trend of alternative release methods, as kick-started into action by Radiohead, looks set to continue for the foreseeable future, but where do bands go from here for the next big "shock tactic"?

For Consolers Of The Lonely, which the band recorded in Nashville last year, things haven't progressed greatly - but when were The Raconteurs ever purveyors of experimental future music? Exactly. The heads of White, Brenson, Lawrence and Keeler are still firmly located in the roots of rock, blues and crammed with more hot riffs than you can squeeze commuters into the tube at rush hour.

Starting with a twin-pair of riotous pieces; the bluesy-swagger and audience chatter of the opening title track leads into the single 'Salute Your Solution', complete with tambourine rattles, over familiar White-riffage and his squawk-fast vocals, for the most White Stripes song on the record. Taking a break and calming down somewhat, the tempo turns snail-pace for the slow-skip of the ivory-led 'You Don't Understand Me', the fiddle-backed acoustic sing-a-long strum of 'Old Enough' and the fret-wankery, sorry mastery, of 'The Switch And The Spur'.

Elsewhere we hear unnecessary album filler, crammed in tight to bloat-out a perfect 12-tracker, into an ok 15 song collection: The prom-night, slow-waltz flavours of the horn-painted 'Many Shades Of Black', or the country-twang and pianos of 'Pull This Blanket Off' do no favours, especially with such talented hands at work.

'Hold Up' cranks up the straight-up swaggered ballsy rock again for the sound we associate most with the four-piece, who previously penned such instant hits as 'Steady As She Goes'. This trend continues into the 'Five On The Five', where White does his best at a manic Frank Black jibbering lunatic vocal, and the keyboard backed 'Attention'.

Some bands struggle with the second album, here The Raconteurs have come out fighting and toppled the heights of their debut. For those who couldn't get enough of Broken Boy Soldiers, will not find a faulting moment on Consolers Of The Lonely; on the other hand, those who needed a little extra from the collective first time around, still won't find it here.

Consolers Of The Lonely Track Listing:

1. Consoler Of The Lonely
2. Salute Your Solution
3. You Don't Understand Me
4. Old Enough
5. The Switch And The Spur
6. Hold Up
7. Top Yourself
8. Many Shades Of Black
9. Five On The Five
10. Attention
11. Pull This Blanket Off
12. Rich Kid Blues
13. These Stones Will Shout
14. Carolina Drama